A common problem in the processing of meat is the difficulty inherent in removing bones from the meat. Although this difficulty manifests itself in the processing of many meat types such as fish, poultry, beef, and the like, and in the removal of many different types of bones and similar objects such as pin bones, ribs, quills, etc., removal of certain bones from certain types of meat is particularly difficult. For example, the removal of pin bones from fish is unusually troublesome. Pin bones are typically rather fine and delicate, and are susceptible to fracture upon their removal. The small and fragile nature of pin bones, coupled with the fact that pin bones are often numerous and commonly protrude less than a millimeter above the surface of a fish, result in a challenging bone removal problem. A number of bone removal devices have been developed which attempt to solve this problem and do so with mixed success.
Most devices which remove pin bones from fish utilize one or more blades to do so. For obvious reasons, devices employing blades present an inherent risk to those around and operating such devices. Another important design factor for pin bone removing devices is the amount of meat removed during the pin bone removal process. In this regard, a problem arises with conventional devices: pin bone removing devices which are very effective at removing pin bones often remove and waste a large amount of meat in the pin bone removal process, while pin bone removing devices which are careful to conserve meat often have limited pin bone removal effectiveness.
An obvious design preference in pin bone removal devices is the speed at which such devices operate. Unfortunately, however conventional pin bone removal devices are typically either slow and thorough or fast and sloppy. This is often the result of design problems common to many existing pin bone removal devices. For example, some devices use one or more elements to pinch and then pull the ends of pin bones which extend beyond the surface of the fish. Such devices by their nature require some degree of exposed pin bone to remove the pin bone. However, some devices have one or more parts which press down upon the fish and pin bone therein prior to the pin bone extraction process, thereby making access to the pin bones that much more difficult. In all such devices, however, the mechanical elements which are used to grip and pull the pin bones often either do not have enough exposed pin bone to grip, in which case the pin bone remains within the fish, or must be pressed into the meat to grip the pin bone, thereby also removing and wasting a significant amount of meat in the process.
Finally, another concern in the design of pin bone removing devices and systems is the weight of such devices and systems and their ability to be cleaned. Weight often becomes an important consideration for pin bone removing devices which are meant to be portable and/or handheld. As such, complex pin bone removing devices and systems employing numerous elements are undesirable--from both a weight and a cost standpoint. Unfortunately, many existing devices for pin bone removal do not take into consideration weight or the ability to clean such devices.
Therefore, a need exists for a fast and thorough pin bone removal device and method which does not use blades for the sake of safety, does not result in the waste of significant amounts of meat in the pin bone removal process, works well with very limited pin bone exposure, removes pin bones without pin bone breakage, is relatively lightweight, is simple in design and operation, and has a design permitting the device to be easily cleaned. Each embodiment of the present invention achieves one or more of these results.